Rotary project awarded Global Climate Hero Award at COP28

Miss World Rolene Straus launched the project in Sri Lanka

On the sidelines of the COP28 Climate Summit, the Co-Founder of Its4U COP28 Cambridge University Alumni Dr. David Ko and Richard Busellato an Alumni of Stockholm University staged a 12-day workshop series under the branding “#Its4U” which connected the world on the projects done in different parts of the globe on initiatives for sustainability beyond ESG- Environment, Society and Governance.  

The preparations kick started from the Farican Climate Summit and thereafter together with World Climate School Co-Founder Inger-Mette Stenseth and then reached out to the global community to voice their views on the key initiatives from different parts of the world. Diana Mclntyre-Pike from Jamaica, Sadaf Khalid Khan the CEO of Walnut Heights Resorts in Pakistan, Dr. Rohantha Athukorala from Sri Lanka on the Rotary 1 Million Tree project were some of the key projects featured on Day 1 of the Symphony of a Billion Voices on Climate Change project.

The Chairperson of the project Past District Governor Gowri Rajan, Implementation Chair Dion Schoorman and Director of the 1 Million Tree Committee/PR Head Dr. Rohantha Athukorala presented the Sri Lanka case where the forest cover in the country had depleted from 53% in 1990, had dropped down to 29% in 2012 and the latest data reveal that the forest cover has dropped to 23% in Sri Lanka and unless the situation is addressed Sri Lanka is up against serious climate change challenge, said Gowri Rajan the Project Chairperson who invited Miss World Rolene Straus to Sri Lanka to launch the Rotary 1 Million Tree Project. 

“The Rotary One Million Tree Project is a unique project as research insight reveals that every person has an emotional relationship with a tree. Hence our campaign is to find out from every person what their Tree Story is. We call this ‘The One Million Tree Story’ project,” said Dr. Rohantha Athukorala the Head of PR for the project.

The agricultural partner to the project is a UN a global compact certified and Rain Forest Alliance company Kelani Valley Plantations of Hayley’s PLC. The tree that is planted is recommended by the Forest Ministry based on the soil structure. A designated geographic area in the hill country has been allocated to the project where the trees are nurtured in a nursery and thereafter once the plant is strong it’s planted and maintained for five years by Hayley’s Plc. “This is our commitment to environmental sustainability at Rotary,” said Dion Schooman, the Implementation Chairman of the project. 

“We are at around 3,000 trees and we want to reach the 1 million mark with the support of the global partners that we have met at COP28,” said Dr. Rohantha Athukorala. “We must move to carbon credit trading,” voiced Gowri Rajan. “It’s great for the project to be awarded the ‘Climate Hero award’ by the organising committee,” voiced Dr. Athukorala and thanked Dr. Ko, Busellato, Khan and Stenseth for the global recognition on this project.